Sunday, January 1, 2017

I just don't know what's wrong me. I am the worst advocate ever. And here we have this terrific source book for urban advocates which I claim to be. And doesn't everyone want happier cities that make people happier?

I recommend reading it in little chunks. This is where I'd go if I needed a couple slides for a presentation. It covers the waterfront, quotes from Aristotle to Freud to Jacobs, vignettes, anecdotes, psychological research, with 316 footnotes to back it up.

But I just can't get through it. Your results may vary.

See, I have these trigger warnings.

First: The subtitle is "Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design" and he really means it. But I lump subtitles like this in the self-help section and I'm am beyond self-helping - ask my family. Honestly if there was a book that proposed "transforming our lives with meatloaf and key lime pie," I'd probably stop eating them so much.

Second: The proposition is that my suburban brother Kenny has no soul. As Montgomery puts it (frequently), "Does the detached suburban home REALLY make its owners more independent and free?" (emphasis added). We know the answer to that one, it's urban activist speak for "Kenny has no soul." It irritates him to have no soul, makes him extra cranky to know that he is ruining it for everybody. Worse, Kenny no longer listens to perfectly good urbanist advice.

Third: Why can't we all be Vancouver? I wish Atlanta could be Vancouver except in Atlanta. Vancouverism as almost a real word. Atlantism isn't. I'd settle for a Medieval piazza with a Renaissance upgrade, a Piazzas del Campo instead of Centennial Olympic Park. Don't we all deserve it? Sure would make urbanism easy.